The invention relates to a device for connecting a wire for being in connection with a bony structure and with a frame of a medical device.
Prior art teaches several devices to connect a wire that is in connection with a bony structure to a medical device such as a frame of an external fixation system. Such frames can have different shapes, for example the shape of a circle, a segment of a circle, rectangular etc. Said wires are also known as Kirschner-Wires (K-Wire) and are drilled through the bone to hold bone fragments in a fixed position. The K-Wires have to be tensioned with forces up to 1000 Newton or even more depending on the situation. After being tensioned said K-Wire has to be clamped and fixed with the external medical device, such as an external fixation system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,598 for example teaches the use of bolts and nuts to fix wires to a ring of an external fixator. Such a fixation technique requires the use of a K-Wire Tension device which is oriented radial to the ring and other tools such as wrenches to tighten the bolt/nut connection. Other methods of attaching K-Wires are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,741,252 and 6,342,054.
The use of wrenches leads to complications and is cumbersome for the medical practitioner as it needs much space in axial and radial direction. This limits the operation and handling freedom.